The John James Newsletter. <124>

The John James Newsletter 124

21 June 2016

Civilisation is a heat engine. The only way to stop the death of our species is to terminate civilisation; its goods, its cars, its manufacture, its use of resources, its wars – all – as each transaction produces heat.

Guy McPherson

History continues to write the final chapter in the story of a species which destroys life on its own planet.

Andrew Glikson

Rising rise in rising CO2 – have we crossed the Rubicon?

From June 17, 2015: @ 401.63 ppm to exactly one year later @ 406.68 ppm

The abnormally hot weather has seen temperatures some 8C above average across a vast swathe of Siberia. On 12 June new records were set with a Saudi Arabian-like heat wave with the highest temperature of 35C.

The so-called Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) saw temperatures rise by 5C over a few thousand years. At the start of the PETM, no more than 1bn tonnes of carbon was being released into the atmosphere each year. In stark contrast, we release 10bn tonnes of carbon every year. “The consequences are likely to be much more severe. If you kick a system very fast, it usually responds differently than if you nudge it slowly but steadily.” The source of the PETM carbon emissions was probably the mass release of methane which had been frozen as hydrates on the ocean floor, probably triggered by a smaller initial release of carbon.

Annual measurements. Especially intense along the north Siberian coast. First image 2009-2013. Second image map of one of the methane sources along the Laptev Sea. In the third image spikes of methane jump into levels not registered in human history.

Dr. Leonid Yurgonov uses the AIRS/AQUA satellite sensor to provide a record of Arctic methane overburden from 2009-2013. The general trend is quite clear.